What I said must have lit a fire, because he went from driving the speed limit to pushing the pedal to eighty-five. On Pesante Road, he took the turns faster than was safe, but somehow made it to the Cox place safely. He dropped Rayna at the house without getting out to open her door, then hightailed it out of there and back onto Highway 101, headed north.
“I’m guessing he’s headed to help his wife out,” I said, pleased that he’d answered my call, and that he’d cared enough to go help her finish up for the night.
“I just wonder if he’s going because of her, or because of the business.” Nick had to ruin the moment for me.
I wanted Skinner to be in love with Naomi for real. All of the years she worked so hard, side by side with him, in that livestock business, she deserved more. I can’t imagine it was an easy business. She’d given up her rodeo life, and her favorite horse. And of all things, that horse ended up in the hands of her nemesis. Funny how life works.
I rarely wished I wasn’t with Nick, but in that moment, I wanted to head north and see how Skinner handled things with Naomi. I wanted to see if she pulled out the shotgun and gave him a piece of her mind. Or maybe they were in on this together. Bonnie and Clyde of the rodeo circuit.
“Drive thru okay with you?” Nick asked.
It wasn’t, but by now, I knew I wasn’t getting a home cooked meal. I’d be lucky if I got him in bed with me. He’d be up all night going over the case, putting pieces together. I’d be sleeping with Lola. Whoopee! Not. “Sure.”
I think I heard Lola grunt from the back seat. Fast food was great with her. Beats dog food any day.
“Just tell me, do you think Skinner did it?” I needed to know. I couldn’t stand it.
The look on Nick’s face told me not to ask that question, or any other questions regarding this case again.
Chapter 12
CHARLES
Morning came way too soon, but I happily fired up the stove and put the cast-iron skillet on the front burner. The only question was eggs or omelet? I knew he ate meat, because he’d eaten meat last night at dinner. But did he like it for breakfast?
I fried the bacon and left the grease in the skillet, then I put the egg yolks in the bowl with some cream, and whisked the whites until they were nearly fluffy enough for meringue. Next, I whisked the yolks and cream together. By the time I was folding the whites into the yolk mix, Max walked into the kitchen.
Dressed only in the towel he’d used for the shower, which fit around his waist nicely, his body looked as fit as I’d remembered. His wet hair was curly. He smiled. “What would you say if I told you I don’t eat breakfast?”
I tried not to let my disappointment show. “I’d say more for me.”
“That sucks, because I love breakfast, and I hope you made plenty. Let me get dressed, because I’m going to have to eat and run if I’m going to get to work in time.” He looked back at me. “I can’t believe we slept so late.”
“We didn’t sleep that late, you just take a hell of a long shower.” He’d been in there twenty minutes. “I hope there’s enough hot water for me.”
***
I smiled all the way to the office, but made sure to put on my game face by the time I got to the door. I had no intention of sharing the details of my test drive and (so called) date from the night before. Then I looked back at the Spyder sitting in the parking lot, and knew I’d have to do some explaining.
I’d planned to be the last to arrive, so I’d be the last car in the lot, then no questions first thing, but I really did want to show off the car. Just not right away. Okay, fine, right away. I just didn’t want to be too obvious about it.
I opened the kitchen door and ran smack into Mimi.
“Oh my, I have so much to tell you. Last night was a doozy. I mean a doozy.”
I rolled my eyes. I didn’t even try to hide it. I’d bet my life that my night was better than hers. “Couldn’t be better than my night was.”
“I’m not talking good, I’m talking bizarre. With a capital B I Z A R R E.” She handed me a glass of iced coffee, then sat at the kitchen table.
I wasn't sure if she could see the Spyder from the kitchen door window as she sat down.
“What could possibly have been so bizarre in your little white washed world?” I leaned against the counter and waited for the boring story.
“Nick stopped by, and we were going to go upstairs for a quickie.” Mimi blushed.
“Stop right there.” I put my hand up. “Already more than I want to know. I can feel my breakfast revolting on me at this very second”
“Whatever. It’s not about me and Nick, it’s about Uta.” She waved her hand at me to shut me up. “We get upstairs, I open the bedroom door, and there’s Uta and her husband, butt naked in the bed.” She started laughing so hard, iced coffee came out her nose.
I tossed a tea towel at her, followed by a roll of paper towels. She nearly choked, she was laughing so hard.
I didn’t see what was so funny. Revolting maybe; funny, not so much. “I fail to see the humor in this. Two geriatrics going at it is probably a task, and you walked in on them and ruined it. That poor boy probably had to work hard to get that thing up, and now poor Uta will probably never get a good servicing again in this lifetime.”
Mimi wiped at her nose with the paper towels and dabbed at her black pants with the rag. “You had to be there. Her husband hid under the covers and wouldn't come out.”
“So, did Uta show up for work today? Or do we now have to find, hire, and train another receptionist?” I failed to see the humor in any of it.
“Fun hater.” Mimi leaned forward to put the used towels on the table. Then she jumped out of the chair so fast, I thought she’d sat on a tack. “What the hell is that?” She nearly ran to the door and swung it open.
My cheeks hurt from grinning. I think my lips were stuck, because I almost couldn’t answer her question.
“It’s a car,” I finally managed. I did a little jump in place.
Now she was looking at me. “And what the hell was that?” But she didn’t wait for an answer and walked out to the Spyder.
I guzzled my iced mocha as I walked behind her.
“I thought there weren’t any more of these things left on the planet from the way you were carrying on.” She walked around my new baby, not daring to touch it, as if it were a mirage.
“In theory, there aren’t. This is a replica. Still worth quite a pretty penny, but it’s a Spyder, and it’s mine.” I touched it for her, to let her know it was real.
Now her smile matched mine. “So this is what Max took you to see?”
I hedged a bit, then said, “Yep.”
Mimi looked at me, waiting for more. I wasn’t ready to tell her more.
Just then, Cortnie came out onto the back porch. “Hey, I know you are all drooling over Charles’ new car, but we need to get to the Cox place. Rayna’s daughter just called. She said Skinner is there with a horse trailer.”
Cortnie had the keys in her hand. She shut the door tight behind her, and I swear I heard Lola howling as we got in Mimi’s Land Rover. Of course, Cortnie tossed the keys to me.
I rode the fine line between speeding and getting a ticket. You know, that place between definitely getting pulled over, and maybe getting pulled over? And we got lucky. On the way there, I told Mimi and Cortnie the story about Max and the new car. I conveniently left out the part about dinner, and especially the part about breakfast.
I really wanted to tell someone about Max, and breakfast, and the drive to the bank, but I didn’t want it to be both of them at once. I’d wait until Mimi and I were alone, since I wasn’t sure if this thing was just one date, and the sexiness of the new car on my mind, or if I really liked Max, and there was something more. Hell, I didn’t even know how much longer he’d be in the area. When the import sting operation was finished, we’d likely be finished. Maybe Max had a guy for every operation. Just like those guys with a hook up in every port. I didn’t w
ant to make more of it than it really was: a fun night that ended way too late, or way too early (the next morning) as the case may be.
We got to the Cox place just in time to block the driveway as Skinner was driving his truck and trailer down past the arena. I stopped the Land Rover in the middle of the drive, at an angle, where the culvert went over the ditch. He couldn’t drive around us without going in the ditch, and he wasn’t going to drive through us if he had an expensive horse in the trailer.
I got out of the car and walked toward the truck. He wasn’t driving fast, and it looked like he was slowing down to talk to us.
By the time I got to his driver’s side door, Mimi and Cortnie were right behind me.
Skinner rolled down his window, but made no move to get out. The truck rolled forward a bit, so I didn’t think he had put it in park. “Get your car out of my way.”
“So, did you make it out to your place to finally help your wife last night? Or did you spend the whole night with Rayna?” Mimi asked.
I looked at Mimi. “Just what the hell were you doing last night?”
Skinner glared at Mimi. “You called me last night. I told you I was going to help my wife.”
“You didn’t tell me anything. You hung up.” Mimi spat the words at him.
She hated cheaters, almost as much as I did. I wished we’d talked about what was going on with Skinner last night, rather than my car, on the way over here, so I didn’t feel so left out.
“Well, I don’t need your services anymore, so please move your vehicle.” He rolled the truck forward a bit more.
“Galynn called us,” Cortnie said. “She said you came by last night and left with her mother for a few hours, then when you dropped her off, Rayna was extremely upset. You just dropped her and drove away. That wasn’t like you. What’s going on, Skinner?”
The lines in Skinner’s face seemed to deepen before our eyes. “There’s a lot going on between Rayna and me, and it’s none of your business. It has nothing to do with what I hired you for. I’m not going to get my saddle back, because Bucky sold it, and I’m done with all of this. I just want to take my horse and go.”
Cortnie looked at the trailer, as did I. Mimi looked at Skinner.
Cortnie asked, “What horse?”
“According to the court documents, and the judge, the business contract, the LLC was between Pam Brown and Bucky Cox. Rayna Cox’s name was nowhere on the paperwork. Since Bucky Cox is dead, and Rayna was not named anywhere, the assets of the LLC revert to the sole owner, the president of the corporation, Pam Brown. Pam no longer wishes to own the horse, so I purchased him from her for a fair market price, and he’s going home where he belongs.”
Rayna came running down the driveway. “Stop him. He’s a horse thief.”
Galynn wasn’t running, but she was following after her mother. “Mom, just let him go. We’ll buy another horse.”
Rayna turned to her daughter. “With what? My good looks? Because that’s not going to buy us anything. Bucky pissed away everything on this damn campaign.” She swung her arm at a campaign sign that still stood in the yard. “The tack is gone, most of the good horses are gone. And now the ranch is going to be gone.”
Galynn shook her head. “No, that’s not possible. Daddy made sure the ranch was paid for. We own this place, Mom.”
Rayna shook her head. “Oh baby, there’s so much you don’t know.”
She hugged her daughter, but then she remembered why she was down here. “Skinner, he’s mine. Bucky bought him for me fair and square. Your fat cow of a wife couldn’t do him justice anymore, and Pam was too poor to even feed him properly. He’s mine, all mine. Now open the fucking trailer and get him out.”
Whoa, Nellie, this was a whole new side of Rayna I didn’t see coming.
“Mom!” Galynn grabbed her by the arm. “Get a hold of yourself.”
Rayna jerked away from her daughter. “I won’t have everything taken from me. I let Bucky take my dignity all these years, the least I can do is have my horse.”
Skinner finally put the pickup in park and got out. He marched up to Rayna and stood in front of her, leaning down. He got in her face, his hands on her shoulders. “I took you to that motel last night, so I could talk to you in private. I told you things that I didn’t think anyone else should know. You told me things, too. Keep this up, and I’ll air our dirty laundry right here, for the whole world to hear. Do you want that? Because I’m telling you, you selfish bitch, if you ever call my wife names again, I’ll make sure I air your dirty laundry from the rooftops. You think choosing Bucky was a mistake? I can guarantee you, he’ll be your second biggest mistake if I ever hear you trash talking my wife again.”
Rayna didn’t back down. “Don’t you ever threaten me, Skinner Mathis. I have some pretty good dirt on you.”
Skinner stood at his full height and laughed so loud it even scared me. “Lady, you only know the lies your husband told you. And to think, all these years, I thought you were too good for me. I never settled when I married Naomi; she settled when she married me. I’m just lucky she loved me enough to hang on. And I’m betting, scratch that, I’m one hundred percent sure, she never cheated on me. Never went back, just that one time, to see what she may have been missing. Can you say that, Rayna?”
Galynn gasped.
Rayna reached up and slapped Skinner across the face.
I choked back a laugh. This was better than any soap opera I’d ever watched, I mean glimpsed. Who’d waste time watching those? Maybe I should learn how to ride, and get involved in this rodeo thing, since it seemed quite entertaining.
“The horse is mine, Rayna. I bought him from Pam Brown, his rightful owner. Now I’m giving him back to my wife. He’s going home.” Skinner walked back to his truck, but stopped part way there. He turned and walked back to Cortnie, whispered in her ear, then back to his pickup.
Skinner got in the truck, and Cortnie got in the Land Rover and moved it out of the driveway. I didn’t try to stop her, because I was standing as the barrier between Rayna and Skinner as he inched the pickup forward. When the trailer was in front of us, Rayna jumped on the back of it and tried to unlatch the door. But Skinner was smart enough to bring a lock. Frustrated, Rayna hung onto the trailer to the end of the property, then jumped off and stood at the end of the driveway as the trailer drove out of sight.
Cortnie walked back to us and asked Galynn, “What happened last night?”
Speaking low, she said, “I’m not sure, but my mom has been a basket case since Skinner brought her home. I guess they had a long talk about some things, and she didn’t like what Skinner had to say. She hasn’t spoken to me much since last night.”
“Have the police been back out here since yesterday?” I asked.
She looked at me. “I think they’re coming back out today to look through some of my dad’s things. They’re hoping to find something in his papers that will give them a clue as to who the killer is.”
Mimi asked, “Have they shared anything with you? Do they have any idea who might even be a suspect?
Galynn kicked at the rocks in the gravel. “Nothing. They said they might have more for us today. I don’t get it. I mean, my dad wasn’t the nicest guy in the world, but he wasn’t the worst, either. Who would do something like this? On our own ranch?” She looked around. “It had to be someone who knew Dad pretty well, or at least knew the layout of our place.”
“Do you mind if I go down and take a look at the spot where your dad died?” Mimi asked.
I wondered what the hell she was up to. “Mimi?”
“I’m sure the cops have already done this, but I just wanted to see something.” To Cortnie, she said, “Can you go up to the house? Stand on the deck, near the kitchen window. At least I’m assuming that’s the kitchen.”
Rayna walked back to us as Cortnie walked up the hill. “What’s going on here?”
“I’m testing a theory,” Mimi said. “Do you mind?”
“Depends wh
at the theory is.” Rayna kept looking down the road, like she was expecting Skinner to come back.
“Let me do this first, then I promise I’ll tell you,” she said to Rayna. “You two can go back up to the house, and Charles will come with me.”
I looked up to see that Cortnie was almost to the house, and I followed Mimi to the arena.
“What’s up, buttercup?” I took a few long strides and caught up with her.
“He was killed on the ranch, right? And she said someone had to know the ranch, and be quite brazen to kill someone in broad daylight. So, I’m wondering if this was an argument with Bucky, and someone just completely lost it, picked up a piece of pipe and hit him with it, or if it was premeditated.”
I was following her thought process, but only to a point. “So, what you’re saying is that if it was premeditated, someone had to have set up the scenario. The situation, the pipe, or the person had to sneak up behind him and bash his head in. But do we know if he was hit from the front or the back?”
“Not only that, is the person left or right handed?”
We went down the stairs to the area where Bucky was found. I have to say, it was lower than I remembered. And how tall was Bucky? I didn’t think he was as tall as Skinner, if I remembered correctly. I think he stood under six feet. It was the pink fabric that stood out.
“What was it that caught Cortnie’s eye, and how close were you to the arena when she saw his body?” I asked.
“It was that bright pink shirt, and we weren’t that far. I was parked about twenty-five, maybe thirty feet away, and I was coming toward her. She’d stopped only feet from these steps when she told me not to come any closer.”
We were down in the bowels of the bucking chutes. And I do mean bowels, as it smelled like manure and who knew what else. I hadn’t noticed the smells when I was with Nick yesterday, but then Nick does tend to distract me. I looked up. I could only see the roof of the house, and part of the horse barn.
Mimi pulled her phone from her pocket and punched a speed dial number. “Hey, can you see me?”
I heard Cortnie say, “No, I saw you go down, but I don’t see you now.”
Electile Dysfunction (Gotcha Detective Agency Mystery Book 6) Page 13